Brazil’s central bank chief is facing the tough reality that weaning the country’s largest businesses off of multi-billion dollar subsidies is easier said than done. Over the past fortnight, Ilan Goldfajn has lobbied dozens of lawmakers over legislation that would essentially eliminate below-market rates on long-term loans from state bank BNDES before the proposal expires on Sept. 7. In a sign of the importance the central bank places in the bill, no fewer than four directors attended its reading in a congressional committee hearing on Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported.

Brazilian President Michel Temer has burned through political capital fighting corruption charges and is struggling to push forward his economic agenda meant to rein in a gaping budget deficit, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Even allies in Congress now doubt he can achieve anything but watered-down measures, likely delaying any fix to Brazil's fiscal crisis until the economy recovers from deep recession. With continued deficits, Brazil risks further downgrades in its credit rating.

At what point does a country’s political situation become intolerable for bond investors? That is the question facing holders of Venezuela’s debt as the nation’s descent into strife raises questions about investment ethics, the Financial Times reported. This week, Credit Suisse circulated a memo outlining a ban on trading in two Venezuelan bonds, reflecting growing unease about the reputational risks of being associated with a country under the increasingly autocratic government of Nicolás Maduro.

Credit Suisse is banning its traders from dealing with a batch of Venezuelan bonds, fearing any potential reputational fallout from being seen to support the increasingly autocratic government of Nicolás Maduro, the Financial Times reported. Goldman Sachs was earlier this year lambasted by the country’s opposition for its asset management arm’s purchase of $2.8bn worth of Venezuelan bonds issued by the state oil company, PDVSA, which opposition members said amounted to a financial lifeline for the authorities.

Oi SA posted a wider-than-expected second-quarter loss as the Brazilian phone carrier was forced to close currency-hedging positions because of its protracted bankruptcy protection case, Reuters reported. Oi lost a net 3.303 billion reais ($1 billion) last quarter, about 16 times the size of the first quarter's 200 million-real shortfall, according to a securities filing on Wednesday. The loss was much more than an average consensus estimate of 332.8 million reais compiled by Thomson Reuters.

Predicting when Venezuela will finally default has been a decade-long parlor game for bond buyers, but recent events add urgency to the exercise, Bloomberg News reported. After years of mismanagement, the country appears closer and closer to running out of money. Adding to investors’ concern is the increasingly anti-democratic turn of President Nicolas Maduro, whose move to rewrite the constitution and strip power from congress has been met with U.S. sanctions.

Russia’s largest oil company disclosed another advance payment to Venezuela’s state producer after the U.S. sanctioned President Nicolas Maduro on Monday, Bloomberg News reported. Rosneft PJSC paid $1.02 billion to Petroleos de Venezuela SA in April for future crude supplies, the state-run Russian producer said in an earnings statement on Friday. That follows advance payments of about $1.5 billion in 2016 and comes a day after Rosneft Chief Executive Officer Igor Sechin pledged to stick with investment plans in the crisis-torn Latin American nation.

PDG Realty SA, the largest Brazilian homebuilder to have filed for bankruptcy protection, reached a non-binding agreement with bank creditors as part of restructuring talks, the company said in a filing late on Friday. PDG filed for bankruptcy protection in February after citing a severe cash crunch and onerous debt of 7.3 billion reais ($2.33 billion), Reuters reported. It presented an in-court reorganization plan on June 7.

Venezuela’s state oil company, ensnared in the political crisis gripping the country, is asking bond investors for a temporary waiver from financial reporting requirements because it can’t complete the documents on time, Bloomberg News reported. Petroleos de Venezuela asked trustee Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. for an extension to Aug. 11, at which point it expects to make the documents available, according to a letter dated July 31 that the bank sent to holders of notes due in 2020.

Investors have been bracing for a Venezuela debt default for more than a year, but fallout from the country’s widely criticized election last weekend could prove to be the tipping point, The Wall Street Journal reported. The government and state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela SA, also known as PdVSA, together owe $5 billion in principal and interest payments due between now and the end of the year, according to Caracas Capital Markets. The country has $725 million due this month alone, the Venezuelan investment bank said.